Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper delivered a blunt statement regarding the hit on Brandon Hagel by Aaron Ekblad in Game 4 of their playoff series against the Florida Panthers.
The hit in question occurred in the second period when Ekblad caught Hagel with a high forearm/elbow to the head. Hagel fell straight to the ice and had to be helped off to the locker room. There was no penalty called on the play.
After Hagel left the game and did not return following the hit, Cooper was asked about the play in the post-game press conference.
“It’s getting tiresome answering about a hit every single game,” Cooper said.”If anybody in here has something to say stand up and let me know.”
Cooper’s invitation for the media to “stand up” if they had an issue with the hit was likely in reference to the one-game suspension Brandon Hagel received for a hit on Aleksander Barkov in Game 2. Cooper seems frustrated that his player was suspended while Ekblad’s hit was unpenalized.
Florida coach Paul Maurice responded to the hit, saying:
“I don’t want to use this platform to start making my case on this. Everybody’s got a job to deal with, I’ll just stay in my lane.”
The Panthers went on to win the game 4-2 and now hold a 3-1 series lead. Aaron Ekblad, Seth Jones, Anton Lundell, and Carter Verhaeghe scored for Florida. For Tampa, Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak scored.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 shots in the win. Andrei Vasilevskiy had 19 saves for the Lightning.
NHL analyst Justin Bourne’s take on Aaron Ekblad’s hit on Brandon Hagel
NHL analyst Justin Bourne provided a detailed critique of the hit delivered by Aaron Ekblad on Brandon Hagel. Speaking on Sportsnet, Bourne stated that it was clear the Panthers had Hagel in their sights and were intent on delivering a physical message, particularly after his swipe at Barkov in Game 2.
Bourne described Ekblad’s actions as:
“This forearm shiver to Hagel to me is a complete lapse in judgement from Ekblad. I think it’s violent, right in the button with the hard forearm, he hits his head on the ice…”
“Coop is absolutely livid on their bench… I love Tampa’s reponse, give them full credit… I think it’s a bad hit.”
The analyst was highly critical of the officials, questioning how they could have failed to call a penalty, let alone a major infraction, on the play.
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Edited by Dipayan Moitra
